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A review by brettt
The Mayan Secrets by Scott Brick, Clive Cussler, Thomas Perry
1.0
Mystery author Thomas Perry took over the "co-author" role of Clive Cussler's Fargo adventure series in 2012. His initial outing was pretty strong, as he helped sketch a little character development into the tales of the Nick and Nora Charles-influenced archaeologists Sam and Remi Fargo. The Fargos are independently wealthy, supremely confident and even more capable than confident. In The Mayan Secrets, their decision to help stranded victims of an earthquake leads them to an incredible find -- a long-lost but incredibly well-preserved Mayan book, complete with descriptions of Mayan religions and maps showing once-great cities now buried in Central American jungles. But a vain and ruthless woman wants the Mayan book for herself and her own aggrandizement, and her connections to organized crime mean the Fargos will have to call upon some non-archaeological skill sets to make sure the discoveries the book represents are properly recorded, explored and kept in the hands of the local governments to whom they now belong. Fortunately they have just such skills, and a couple that they may have even hidden from each other.
The Fargo novels have always been lightweight, even by Cussler adventure standards, so Perry's work in The Tombs was a nice breath of substance. Unfortunately, he reverts to previous series standards with Secrets, crafting a story that isn't much more than a low-rent Republic serial full of cliffhangers and escapes strung together for not much more reason than that the Fargos can't resist poking their noses into things and they don't take failure well. The lead villain is such primarily because she wants greater fame and notoriety and believes making archaeological discoveries will be the way to get them (she apparently does not watch much television). Most thrillers require a suspension of disbelief, but a villain who is a lot more punchline than psychopathic baddie makes The Mayan Secrets some information that didn't need to be shared.
Original available here.
The Fargo novels have always been lightweight, even by Cussler adventure standards, so Perry's work in The Tombs was a nice breath of substance. Unfortunately, he reverts to previous series standards with Secrets, crafting a story that isn't much more than a low-rent Republic serial full of cliffhangers and escapes strung together for not much more reason than that the Fargos can't resist poking their noses into things and they don't take failure well. The lead villain is such primarily because she wants greater fame and notoriety and believes making archaeological discoveries will be the way to get them (she apparently does not watch much television). Most thrillers require a suspension of disbelief, but a villain who is a lot more punchline than psychopathic baddie makes The Mayan Secrets some information that didn't need to be shared.
Original available here.